Tickets: $15 ($1 off with a non-perishable food donation, which benefits Community Partnership in Phoenix); purchase at Ninth Avenue and Lynwood Street during the tour or online at fqstory.org.

Details: The Dec. 1 tour includes lighted luminarias at participating homes and entertainment by the strolling Dickens Carolers. On Dec. 2, food and gift vendors will line the street, and trolley transportation will be available.

Judy Wright fell in love with the F.Q. Story neighborhood after going on a 2001 holiday home tour.

When she was ready to move, she spent her weekends driving through downtown Phoenix’s historic neighborhoods, looking at “For Sale” signs and real-estate fliers. That’s how she spotted this inviting Spanish Colonial Revival on a corner lot.

“From the outside, I thought, ‘I’ll never be able to afford that,’” Wright recalls. “It was so darn cute.”

Inside was a different story — especially the kitchen that lacked shelves, drawers or cabinet doors and boasted battered 1970s appliances and a dilapidated wood floor. Luckily, because of the work needed, the price was right. And Wright, who works for a relocation firm, was up for the challenge.

“I feel a sense of stewardship with it,” she says of the house, which is one of 10 on this year’s F.Q. Story Home Tour on Saturday and Sunday, Dec. 1 and 2. “I’m really big on keeping everything as original as possible.”

The F.Q. Story neighborhood was originally listed on the Phoenix Historic Property Register in 1988. It is generally bounded by McDowell Road, Roosevelt Street, Seventh and 17th avenues.

Wright says she didn’t grow up in a historic home. Her family always lived in newer houses. But something about antique crystal doorknobs and older, stately exteriors have always tugged at her heart.

Today, she loves showing off some of her 1936 home’s original touches: the milk door with a movable dial, letting the milkman know what to leave for the day, and the front door’s original Art Deco handle and matching mail slot.

She also loves talking about the home’s history. Wright says the house originally was built as a retirement home for J.B. Bayless, founder of the Valley’s Bayless grocery chain. By the 1940s, it was home to the manager of a local pie factory and his family. It was also the former address of Miss America 1965, Vonda Kay Van Dyke.

Wright bought the house in 2003 and immediately went to work, neutralizing the forest-green, cobalt-blue and coral-pink walls with a pale-green hue in most of the main rooms. She has also refurbished the original oak floors and reglazed the original porcelain bathtub and sink.

In renovating the original bath, Wright says she found several layers of tile from different decades. She wasn’t able to save anything except a scrap of the original tile that appears to be marble.

Instead, she installed white subway tiles with black accents in the shower (the original shower hardware remains) and white hexagonal floor tiles that fit the period. She also added Art Deco vanity lights.

Soon after moving in, Wright gutted the kitchen and found a steal of a deal on cream-colored Thomasville cabinets that had been part of a Home Depot display.

Once an eyesore, the kitchen now feels cozy and inviting. Granite-tile counters, a custom kitchen island, bead-board detailing and a bright window seat give it modern amenities that still fit the era.

Over the years, additions had been made to the two-bedroom, one-bath home, including a family room, den and second bath. Wright says she thinks the ceiling had been raised in places, and a skylight had been added to the main bathroom.

An archway likely had been widened between the formal living room and dining room. The latter still boasts the original coved ceiling and crystal chandelier. Wright’s own antique furnishings, including an English walnut dining set and a set of Italian Renaissance-style wood chairs from the late 1800s, complement the home’s historical feel.

Wright’s house and others on the F.Q. Story Home Tour are already decorated for the holidays. Stockings hang from Wright’s Art Deco fireplace, and her collection of miniature Snow Village homes is in place in the den. Wright says that during the tour, she loves to talk about the work she’s done and other projects she’d like to pursue.

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